Upholstered furniture



A ril 30, 1968 D. M. BENNETT 3,380,777

UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE Filed Sept. 6. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 DOUGLAS M.BENNETT INVENTOR- ATTORNEYS April 30, 3963 M. BENNETT 3,380,???

U?HOLSTER ED FURN ITURE Filed Sept. 8. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @fiENEYTINVENTOk @Y'YORNEYS United States Patent 3,380,777 UPHOLSTERED FURNITUREDouglas M. Bennett, 332 2nd W., Seattle, Wash. 98119 Filed Sept. 8,1966, Ser. No. 578,084 8 Claims. (Cl. 297-440) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Upholstered furniture is constructed such that reversibleseat and back cushions may be secured to the furniture frame. Removableupholstered side and back panels may also be provided to facilitatetheir cleaning apart from the furniture itself.

This invention relates to upholstered furniture and more particularly tothe construction of such furniture.

One of the major problems associated with upholstered furniture is thatseat and back cushions do not remain in place under conditions of normalusage. This problem is compounded when the furniture is intended for usein dormitory lounges where loose furniture cushions are removed for avariety of reasons.

Another problem is that the upholstery on upholstered side and backpanels, especially in commercial furniture, often becomes soiled andcannot be cleaned separately from the furniture itself.

A primary object of this invention is to provide upholstered furniturehaving seat and back cushions that are normally held in place and thatcan be removed for cleaning or removed and turned over when one sidehecomes soiled. Another object is to provide an upholstered furnitureframe adapted to have seat and back cushions attached thereto. A furtherobject is to provide upholstered furniture having removable decorativeside panels.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sofa;

FIG. 2 is a blown-apart perspective view of the FIG. 1 sofa illustratingfeatures of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a detail cross-section of one of the removable side panels ofthe FIG. 1 sofa.

In brief, this invention comprises an upholstered furniture piece, thatis to say an upholstered chair or sofa, wherein the various upholsteredsections are removable separately without appearing to be removable.Furniture constructed in accordance with this invention comprises 1) aframe structure having two open-center side sections, a back section anda base section, (2) an upholstered back unit supported by the frame basesection, (3) an upholstered seat unit removably supported by the framebase section, and (4) a side panel for each of the frame side sectionshaving both faces decoratively finished and being adapted to be fittedinto the respective side section and detachably connected thereto.Further, the frame back section may also be open centered and a backpanel, having a decoratively finished outer face, adapted to be fittedinto the back section and detachably connected thereto.

FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a two cushion sofa constructed in accordance withthis invention. A chair of the same style would have essentially thesame construction but of lesser width with a single cushion.

The FIG. 2 frame 1, whether for a sofa or a chair, comprises fourupstanding legs, 10, 12, 14 and 16, arm rails or rests, 18 and 20, eachinterconnectably joined to the upper end of the forward and rearwardlegs on the 3,380,777 Patented Apr. 30, 1968 'ice respective side in asuitable manner such as by finger joints. The frame 1 also comprisesforward, rearward and side rails, 22, 24, 26 and 28, respectively,interconnectably joined to the four legs in a suitable manner such as bymortise and tenon butt joints. The frame further comprises a stretcherrail 30 interconnectably joined at its opposite ends to the side rails26 and 28 forward of the rearward rail 24. The frame comprises twoupstanding back rail supporting posts 32 and 34 connected to the innerfocus of the rearward legs 14 and 16, respectively, above the rearwardrail 24 in a suitable manner as by wood screws. Finally, the framecomprises a back rail 36 interconnectably joined to the upper ends ofthe posts 32 and 34 in a suitable manner such as by finger joints.

For a purpose to be described subsequently, end and center supportblocks 38, 40 and 42, respectively, may be positioned between the endsand center portions of the rearward and stretcher rails 24 and 30 asdepicted.

In terms of the functional sections of the frame, one frame side sectionis formed from legs 10 and 14, arm rest 18 and side rail 26; the otherframe side section is formed from legs 12 and 16, arm rest 20 and siderail 28; the frame base section is formed from the forward, rearward,side and stretcher rails 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30, respectively, and thesupport blocks 38, 40 and 42; and the frame back section is formed fromthe rearward rail 24, the posts 32 and 34, and the back rail 36. It isto be noted that certain components of the frame are parts of more thanone of the above-described sections but it should be easily seen fromFIG. 2 that such components do in fact serve multiple functions. Ifdesired, one skilled in the art could devise a frame wherein eachcomponent serves only one function without departing from the scope ofthis invention.

An important feature of this invention is the provision of side panels44 and 46 having both faces decoratively finished (in the embodimentshown the faces are upholstered) and adapted to be inserted into opencenter portion of the respective frame side sections and detachablyconnected thereto. In the embodiment shown the open center portion ofeach frame side section is peripherally defined by the respectiveforward and rearward legs, side rail and arm rest. The side panels aredesigned to closely conform to the periphery of the open centerportions. Either the underside of the arm rests, or the top edges of theside panels are provided with dowel holes and the other provided withsnugly-fitting dowels (the side panels being depicted as having theplurality dowels 48 and 50, respectively). The side rails 26 and 28 areprovided with countersunk holes for screwing wood screws 52 or boltsinto the bottom edges of the side panels to connect the side panels tothe frame after their insertion into the frame side sections. The heightof the side panels is just slightly less than the height of the frameside section open center portion such that the side panels can be fittedinto the open center portions with the dowels mating in their respectiveholes. By the use of upholstery welting around the periphery of the sidepanel faces, as shown in dotted line in FIG. 4, it will be difiicult, ifnot impossible, to detest the fact that the side panels are not integralwith the frame side secions and, further, that the panels are detachablesimply by removing the bottom screws 52 or bolts and by then shiftingthe panels outward and downward to release the dowels from theirrespective holes.

As shown in FIG. 4, the side panels are preferably of hollow coreconstruction provided by a peripheral frame 54 faced with face panels 56and 58. The face panels are covered with upholstery fabric which istacked to the peripheral edges of the frame 54, as shown in dotted line.

If desired a back panel 60 may be provided to fit within the open centerportion of the frame back section and to be detachably connected theretoin the same manner as the side panels 44 and 46. As shown in FIG. 3, theback panel 60 is decoratively finished on the outer face, only(upholstery fabric depicted), the panel contains the plurality of dowels62 and the underside of back rail 46 the dowel holes, and the panel isdetachably connected to the rearward rail 24 by screws 64. The backpanel itself is of one piece solid construction as shown.

An upholstered seat back unit or back bolster 62 is designed to fit downbetween the arm seats 18 and 20 and to be supported by the supportblocks 38, 40 and 42. The back bolster comprises a solid base board 64and a solid back board 66 that has tabs 66a extending below the baseboard 64 between the support blocks. The bottom of the bolster isconnected to the frame by attaching these tabs to the rearward rail 24by wood screws and the top of the bolster is connected to the back rail36 by suitable means such as attaching an angle member 68 to theunderside of the back rail 36 and to the back board 66 by wood screws asshown in FIG. 3. The base and back boards, 64 and 66, are reinforced bycorner blocks 70. The remainder of the bolster comprises foam cushioningmaterial 72, or other suitable material, covered by upholstery fabric.

An upholstered seat unit 74 comprises a spring unit or deck 76 and aseat cushion or cushions 78. The spring deck comprises a peripheralframe 80 with a plurality of convex compression spring strips 82extending between the forward and rearward sides of the frame 80 and apadded covering 84 extending thereover. A relatively inflexible concavecompression spring 84 extends between the forward and rearward sides ofthe frame 80 to ensure that fiexion of the spring strips 82 will notwarp the frame 80. Corner blocks 88 may also be provided to depend fromthe corners of frame 80 in a manner such that they will bear against theforward and rearward rails 22 and 24 to further ensure that flexion ofthe spring strips 82 will not warp the frame 80.

The seat cushion 78 and back cushions 96, if provided, have tie-downflaps 92 which extend downwardly between the back bolster 72 and thespring deck 76 and which are attached to the stretcher rail 30 bysuitable means such as bolts or screws. These tic-down flaps 92 preventremoval of the cushions.

It is believed that the invention will have been clearly understood fromthe foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustratedembodiment. Changes in the details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordinglymy intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexedclaims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employedlanguage fairly admits.

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An upholstered furniture piece which comprises a frame structurecomprising having two open-center side sections, a back section and abase section and two forward and two rearward legs, forward and rearwardrails extending between intermediate sections of the respective forwardand rearward legs, two side rails extending between the respectiveforward and rearward legs, a stretcher rail extending betweenintermediate sections of said side rails, two arm rails extendingbetween the top sections of the respective forward and rearward legs,and a back rail extending between said rearward legs, the open centersof said frame side sections being peripherally defined by the respectiveforward and rearward legs and the side and arm rails; two side panelsone for each side section, adapted to be removably dowelled to theunderside of each respective arm rail and removably attached to therespective side rail; an upholstered back unit supported by said basesection and detacha'bly connected to said back section; and anupholstered seat unit removably supported by said base section.

2. An upholstered furniture piece according to claim 1 wherein said backsection is open-centered and includ ing a back panel decorativelyfinished on the outer face thereof and adapted to be fitted into saidback section and detachably connected thereto.

3. An upholstered furniture piece according to claim 1 wherein said seatunit is removably supported by said forward rail and said stretcherrail, said back unit is supported between said stretcher rail and saidrearward rail and removably attached to said rearward and back rails.

4. An upholstered furniture piece according to claim 3 wherein said seatunit includes a seat cushion having rearward and downwardly extendingtie-down flap attached to said stringer rail; and wherein said back unitincludes a back cushion having a downwardly extending tie-down flapattached to said stringer rail.

5. An upholstered furniture piece according to claim 1 wherein said sidepanels each comprise a peripheral frame faced with opposing face panelscovered with upholstery material.

6. An upholstered furniture piece according to claim 1 wherein said armrails are finger jointed to the respective forward and rearward rails.

7. An upholstered furniture piece which comprises a frame structurehaving forward and rearward legs, forward and rearward rails extendingbetween istermediate sections of the forward and rearward legs, siderails extending between the respective forward and rearward legs and astretcher rail extendiig between intermediate sections of said siderails; an upholstered back unit supported by said frame structure; anupholstered seat unit supported on said forward and stretcher rails anda reversible seat cushion with a tie-down flap extending downwardlybetween said seat unit and said back unit and removably attached to saidstretcher rail such that said seat cushion can be reversed upondetachment of said tiedown flap.

8. An upholstered furniture piece according to claim 7 including areversible back cushion with a tie-down flap extending downwardlybetween said seat unit and said back unit and removably attached to saidstretcher rail such that said back cushion can be reversed upondetachment of said tie-down flap.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,829,707 4/ 1958 Liebson 297440X 2,907,377 10/1959 Hoven et al. 297416 X 2,913,041 11/1959 Mathison2991.1 2,979,122 4/1961 Knoll 297-445 3,291,529 12/1966 Straits 297-445FOREIGN PATENTS 499,162 l/1939 Great Britain.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner.

